Veins are typically removed from the lower and upper extremities of the body for treating varicose veins, as well as harvesting veins for bypass procedures. Many prior art devices have been used in the past 100 years for removing the varicose veins of the lower extremities. Virtually all of them require major anesthesia at the hospital with potential complications and post-operative pain.
The practice of varicose vein treatment has changed dramatically over the last 10 years, making it an out-patient and less painful procedure, without the need for major anesthesia. The inventor's original harvester device and its subsequent improved version, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,163,547 and 7,632,289 and incorporated herein by reference, are used to remove the varicose veins of the lower extremities under local (tumescent) anesthesia in an office setting.
In prior art harvester devices, the fluid used for tumescent anesthesia is injected via a moveable needle through the shaft of the device. Such moveable needle has limited forward pressure due to leakage of fluid in a retrograde manner. As a result, the effectiveness of hydro-dissection and the anesthetic agent are reduced.
Prior art harvester devices have a cutting tip that is fixed and of a predetermined size. During a vein harvesting procedure, segments of the long saphenous vein may become dilated as a result of the flow turbulence within these veins. An enlarged segment of the saphenous vein that is larger than the rest of the trunk may interfere with the forward advancement of the harvester device.
Prior art harvester devices also do not provide a direct visual field of the surrounding tissues and veins being harvested.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved harvester device that provides forward pressure to the tumescent anesthesia fluid for an effective hydro-dissection and anesthesia, a cutting tip that can accommodate enlarged segments of the vein being harvested and a visual field of the surrounding tissues and veins being harvester.